VVOl datastore inaccessible after esxi rebuild

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After rebuilding an ESXi host following a motherboard replacement, the VVOL datastore is not accessible.

• The Protocol Endpoint (PE) and VASA Provider information appear blank in the vSphere Client.

• All the required ports for the VVOL connectivity are open on the Firewall end.

Environment

Vsphere Esxi 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the VVOL daemon (vvold) service is in a stopped state because no VVOL datastores are mounted on the ESXi host. Without an active VVOL datastore, the host cannot establish communication with the VASA Provider, resulting in inaccessible VVOL storage.
The following command output confirmed that vvold was not running on the host:

/etc/init.d/vvold status
/etc/init.d/vvold status, PID 4515487
vvold is not running., there are no vVol datastores present on the host

Resolution

1. Mount the VVOL datastore manually from the vSphere Client:

   • Navigate to Datastore > Mount to Additional Host.

2. Once the VVOL datastore is mounted, verify that it is accessible.

3. Confirm that the Protocol Endpoint (PE) and VASA Provider status show as Online.

After the datastore is mounted, the vvold service automatically starts, allowing the host to reconnect to the VASA Provider and restore VVOL access.